NBA Draft

With tomorrow comes the arrival of the NBA draft. While it may not be my favorite day of the year it's one of them. One reason is because it never fails to shock. The Hawks taking Marvin Williams over Chris Paul and Deron Williams was fun. The Hawks taking Shelden Williams over Roy, Foye or Marcus Williams was fun too, and the Knicks taking Renaldo Balkman probably took the cake. (yes he's good, but he could be the next Jordan and they still shouldn't have taken him at 20 when they could have had him at 30) This year i think we can look forward to the Hawks not letting us down again.

They're going to take Al Horford with the third pick in the draft, when they already have Shelden Williams and Marvin williams to play the 4 spot. They have two needs, a PG and a C; Horford is neither. Now Len Elmore and Kiki Vanderwiegh like this move because you should take the best available player, but there's probably a reason Kiki is a FORMER GM. Their points hold if there were no good point guard options available, but according to ESPN.com's John Hollinger's new system Mike Conley is the best rated point guard in the draft since Chris Paul. He also lead his young team to the national championship game. It's possible they're going to trade for Ridnour or Calderon... which would admirable because if you're going to do something, do it well. In this case that thing would be doing an awful job and they're doing very well at it.

Everyone is talking Oden versus Durant. Personally i don't know how you pass on Oden, the Rockets passed on Jordan, he turned out to be amazing and the Rockets still got The Dream. My point is worst case scenario you pass on a sublime talent and you still got an All-Time great. However, for Portland unless they have a legitimate deal for Zach Randolph i don't see how Oden fits. You then have Aldridge, Randolph and Oden to play two positions. If you keep Randolph you then have Alridge, Randolph, Durant, Roy and Jack as you're starting five. The only problem there is their coach probably can't handle that much talent.

On a related note there's been rumors that the Nets are thinking of trading Jefferson for Randolph. All i can do is pray that it's not the case. Jefferson is probably tied with Kidd for my favorite Net and i think when put in the right system he can put up over 20 points a night, defend, rebound, run the break, pretty much everything you'd ever want from a player. Meanwhile there's a reason Portland is looking to deal Randolph and his talent on the court ain't it. I hope they keep Jefferson, let Vince walk (ideally sign and trade him for something, but otherwise just let him go) and draft the best available big man or guard. I'll take my chances without Vince for reasons i will get to in another post. Unfortunately though Vince is probably coming back. I know a good SG is gonna fall, so until i see who's available i won't say who they should pick quite yet. I know i do not want it to be Sean Williams. No one cares if you smoke weed, but how smart are you if you get caught for it multiple time?

My final thought for this entry is that the Celtics and Knicks need to deal Gerald Green for Channing Frye. Eddy Curry and Frye do not mesh well together and Zeke ain't trading Curry, so Frye's gotta go. They could use a shooter at the SG/SF position which Green provides and also has tremendous potential. Frye's mid-range shooting would mesh great with the low post play of Al Jefferson (who the Celtics are not trading... nor are any big trades are happening. KG, Kobe, and O'Neal are going nowhere) and allow the Celtics to take Corey Brewer with the number 5 pick. Now Hollinger who i cited in saying Conley would be very good, says Brewer probably won't be. I agree, i don't think he'll be a star, he's not a great ball handler or passer but he can get to the rim. However, if you have a lineup of West or Rondo, Brewer, Pierce, Jefferson and Frye then all you need for Brewer is to hit open shots, move well without the ball and defend. These are all strengths of Brewers and he would be a great fit. Additionally I'm sure his stats (which Hollinger bases his rankings on) would be better if he wasn't busy winning championships with a stacked team. The Celtics bench would include West or Rondo, Tony Allen who had a breakout year, Gomes, and Perkins. There's no way you don't compete in the east with that team, well... unless you have doc rivers as a coach.